MAKES IT EASY
As double switch shows, Callaway managing fine
So far this managing stuff is easier than Mickey Callaway could have imagined. About the hardest thing he’s had to do over two games is make sure he didn’t mess up his first double-switch — under unexpected circumstances, as it turned out.
“That’s something I’ve never had to do,” he said after the Mets’ 6-2 win over the Cardinals. “Then I had to do it on the fly, out on the mound, with an injured player.”
Callaway paused, smiled, and then finished, perhaps only half-jokingly: “I’m glad I got that one right.” Making a double-switch isn’t rocket science, of course, but it was the one curve ball Callaway has had to deal with in going 2-0 as the new guy in the dugout, as reliever Anthony Swarzak had to come out of the game in the eighth inning with what the Mets called a sore left oblique.
Jeurys Familia was already up in the bullpen, so that was a non issue, but he was due to hit first in the bottom of the inning. Callaway made the doubleswitch, inserting Wilmer Flores into the pitcher’s spot in the lineup, while Familia technically replaced Adrian Gonzalez, who had made the last out in the seventh.
It was a no-brainer, but Callaway wouldn’t have been the first manager to make a mistake of some kind moving the players around.
So far, however, so good for the new manager. It helps that he’s been able to give the ball to Noah Syndergaard on Thursday and Jacob deGrom on Saturday, but Callaway did open himself to possible second-guessing by making key changes to his lineup, sitting players like Brandon Nimmo and Kevin Plawecki after each had big offensive days in the season opener.
He shrugged off pre-game questions about going with the hot hand, essentially saying one game wasn’t much of a sample size, and that it was more important to make sure he got as many players involved early as he could.
Sure enough, Travis d’Arnaud drilled a solo home run to help the cause on this day, as the Mets’ catching platoon is paying early dividends, while Juan Lagares pitched in with a couple of singles as the center fielder.
Moving Asdrubal Cabrera into Nimmo’s leadoff spot worked out nicely as well, as he helped the Mets take an early 2-0 lead with a first-inning double, and later singled and scored another run.
Finally, Callaway’s bullpen decisions have worked as well, as he used Robert Gsellman and Swarzak to get to Familia, much as he did on Thursday.
Basically, then, the first two games have gone about as perfectly as the new manager could have hoped, but now his job is likely to get a lot tougher.
For one thing, there will be some uncertainty surrounding Steven Matz, Matt Harvey, and Seth Lugo as they make their first starts of the season, with Matz going on Sunday in the series finale against the Cardinals.
And Callaway is probably going to have to reach deeper into his bullpen, especially with the Swarzak injury. The reliever said he was hoping to be okay on Sunday, but it’s rare when oblique injuries that force a player out of a game don’t wind up costing him time on the disabled list.
And Swarzak appears to be a favorite of Callaway’s already. After using him on Thursday, he brought him in with two runners on base in the seventh in relief of Gsellman, and then let him pitch the eighth inning as well.
It’s worth noting, in fact, that Callaway hasn’t used A.J. Ramos or Jerry Blevins in the first two games, leaning on Gsellman and Swarzak instead as the primary set-up relievers.
After Saturday’s game the manager said it’s not necessarily a formula he’ll stick with, making a point of saying he’ll use other relievers in big situations, but he did say he liked the matchup of the righthanded Swarzak against some of the Cardinals’ lefthanded hitters, in part because of his effective slider.
It’s also interesting that Callaway had both Gsellman and Swarzak finish innings and then go back out for the next, which goes against the grain of the way late-inning relievers are used these days.
Afterward he made it clear it’s part of his philosophy on wanting to get the most out of his bullpen, without regard to roles.
“They should probably be ready to do that,” Callaway said. “It can be an effective weapon, for guys to finish an inning, put out a fire, and then come out and pitch. Having not done it before can be a challenge in the way you’re approaching things in the dugout in between, staying locked in, things like that.”
Callaway has said all along he’s going to let situations dictate his bullpen usage, even if it means using Familia in the seventh inning on some days.
So far he hasn’t had to do that, or really much of anything but watch his team pitch well and score 15 runs in two games.
And yet, new manager or not, Callaway probably knows better than anyone to enjoy it while he can.